by Marian Tee
Deciding to tease her a little, he said again, “Mairi?”
Now’s the time to let him know she was awake, Mairi thought. But if she did, what would he say? What would she say?
“Mairi?”
Panicking, she ended up flipping to her side as if in deep sleep.
Swallowing back a silent, startled chuckle, Damen deftly swerved away from Mairi’s flying kick as she almost kicked him to the floor while flipping to her side.
He waited for her to “settle” before speaking again. “I guess you’re tired, mm?”
Mairi almost stopped breathing. Oh my God, she knew what was going to happen next. He was going to confess Something Important. It always happened like that in books and movies. Always!
If she squeezed her eyes any harder, Damen thought with amusement, she might end up bursting a blood vessel or something.
Clearing his throat, Damen continued in a grave voice, “I suppose it’s better this way, matakia mou. It would be easier to tell you without you seeing me.” He almost had to bite his tongue to keep himself from reminding Mairi that people still breathed in their sleep.
Mairi was dying of anticipation. Oh my God, the wait was killing her!!!
“I just want to tell you that—”
Thaaaaaaaat?
The pilot’s voice suddenly boomed out of the speakers, cutting Damen off as he announced that the jet would be starting its descent in a few minutes.
Mairi wanted to scream. Nooooooooo!
But there was no going back. The moment was gone, the mood broken, and it was time for her to “wake up”. She tried to channel Sleeping Beauty as she did, thinking she should flutter her lashes several times before she could open her eyes.
So fucking hard, Damen thought, not to laugh out loud when Mairi seemed to be aiming for a Guinness record for the most number of times she could flutter her lashes under one minute.
Mairi finally opened her eyes.
And the first thing she saw was Damen’s dazzlingly handsome face, which was too close for comfort and made her cheeks flush red. The second thing she saw was the gleam of wicked amusement in his silver eyes.
She gasped. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?” he asked with complete innocence, but the grin tugging at his beautifully shaped lips ruined it.
Her cheeks turned a darker shade of red. Her voice turned into an embarrassed wail. “You knew!”
Damen allowed himself a small chuckle. “Yes, I did know you’ve been awake for quite some time.”
She wailed again, but when she started to cover her face, Damen was there to pull her hands away, and just like that the air between them sizzled, the simple contact of their hands generating enough heat for Damen’s smile to disappear and Mairi to swallow audibly.
Awkward.
Hot.
Awkward.
Hot.
She felt like she was picking off petals from a flower to determine the exact nature of her feelings. Damen’s gaze was on hers, intense but unreadable. It made her feel more self-conscious the same time every inch of her body tingled into life.
Awkward.
Hot.
Awkward.
Hot.
This man was her husband.
Oh dear Lord, Damen Leventis was her husband.
The Greek billionaire she had dreamt of had married her, and she was now Mrs. Leventis.
It was the most bittersweet feeling, but underneath it was the unmistakable sense of joy, quiet and deep. Damen Leventis was the only man she could ever love, and no matter what had happened – no matter what the world thought – marrying him felt right.
She just had to remember that he could never love her – could never trust her – the way someone who was truly in love would.
Damen was so attuned to his new wife’s feelings that he noticed the moment her smile dimmed ever so slightly. His heart clenched at the sight of it. “Mairi?”
Looking at his eyes, Mairi found whatever she had thought of saying dying in her throat. The look of fierce concern on his gorgeous face made her every misgiving fade.
How she loved this man.
Loved him so, so much it was just impossible to explain the magnitude of it.
And so in the end all she could whisper with a tremulous smile, akin to the old days, was, “Hi.”
But the concern on his face did not ease. “Something is troubling you.”
Her smile widened a little at the words. He spoke them as if they were an accusation and that she had no right to feel bad because he was there to go to battle for her.
She said half-honestly, “You’re too close.” When he raised one quizzical brow at her, she muttered, “It’s hard to think when you’re this close.”
Damen only frowned at her.
She frowned back at him. Did the man seriously think it was only his billions that made him hot? If he did, he needed to have his eyes checked.
At her unhappy frown, Damen realized with surprise – and pleasure – that Mairi did mean every word. Satisfaction coursed through him, and mixed with it was more than a good amount of possessiveness. She still wanted him. He could work with that. He would work on that. It would be his topmost priority to make Mairi forget another man’s touch to the point that her mind, body, and heart would only remember Damen.
Mairi’s heart started to race when Damen looked at her with hooded eyes. Oh no, she knew that look. And it spelled trouble.
And her suspicions were proved correct when her husband murmured in a low sexy voice, “You think I’m hot then, ne?”
Oh God, the words had even become a hundred times sexier because Damen didn’t hold back on his Greek accent. The darn man knew how she loved his accent, and he was using it to his advantage!
Thankfully, she was saved from replying by the pilot announcing that the seatbelt sign was on, signaling their descent.
Damen took the seat next to his wife and immediately bent towards Mairi to buckle her belt for her.
“I can do it myself,” she protested weakly, trying not to inhale too much of his wonderfully male scent. God, it was so unfair. Why did Damen always smell so darn good? Damen didn’t answer and when he moved back, she sucked her breath in as the side of his arm brushed against her breasts, which immediately caused her nipples to harden under her blouse.
When Damen inhaled sharply, too, Mairi cringed in a mixture of embarrassment and arousal, realizing it meant Damen was aware of her body’s instant reaction to his proximity.
As Damen returned to his seat, she turned away, closing her eyes and biting her lip hard. She had the stupidest urge to bury her head in the sand and plead with him to forget everything and just run away from the problems that haunted them. If he could promise that he would pretend to love her forever, then she was good with that.
The thought made Mairi ashamed of her weakness, and she bit her lip harder, willing herself to get over it. Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. She had to be strong for Damen and for all the people who were silly enough to love her.
The roaring of the jet’s descent cued her to taking deep breaths.
Please God, please make me strong.
“We’re here.”
Damen’s quiet words made her look at him. His face was grim and it struck her then, and she felt even more ashamed at how she had momentarily allowed herself to wallow in her selfish self-pity. It wasn’t only her life that had been turned upside-down.
The last time Damen Leventis had been in his homeland, he had been a Greek billionaire, running his own business empire and flying in his own private jet.
Now, he only had…her.
Damen was bemused when Mairi suddenly held his hand and squeezed it hard. When their eyes met, she gave him a determined smile. “We can do this.”
His chest constricted at his wife’s battle-ready expression. A five-foot former schoolteacher was ready to fight one of the world’s richest women and a power-hungry shipping magnate for him. God, how he loved her. He
knew then that he would never deserve her, but he would try his damnedest to at least get close to being worthy of Mairi’s selfless devotion.
And maybe, maybe if he tried hard enough, maybe one day she would learn to love him again.
As the jet’s door opened and slowly revealed them to the public, the media’s first shot of the newlywed couple was of Damen and Mairi Leventis holding hands.
Damen drew Mairi close to him protectively, doing his best to shield her from the blinding glare of cameras that photographers managed to shove at their faces despite the security team that Stavros and Ioniko had sent in preparation of their arrival. It was a bitter pill for Damen to swallow, asking help from other people, but for Mairi he would do anything.
Mairi did her best to keep her smile in place as Damen forged a way through the crowd to the car waiting for them. Just when she was beginning to believe they would make it, one of the paparazzi shouted, “Is it true he and Alina Kokinos lived under one roof while you were gone?”
The question threw Mairi back to that awful day she had met Alina, the same woman Damen once called a “real lady”, and the other woman had revealed to her what had been happening while Mairi had been away.
“Damen and I have been sharing a bed, too…”
Mairi stumbled.
Cameras exploded into action, every lens able to capture the heartbreaking pain flashing on Mairi’s face.
Damen caught her before she fell completely, and this time his arm went around her waist like an anchor.
Mairi’s distressed look had Damen whitening because he knew – he fucking knew the exact reason why Mairi was looking like that. He started to speak, but the words burned into nothing when Mairi shook her head.
Teeth clenching, he held nothing back this time, aggressively making his way to the car and only allowing himself to breathe when he had Mairi stowed safely inside Ioniko’s limousine. As the door closed behind them, he began, “Mairi—”
She forced a smile. “I’m okay. It’s the past.”
“Let me explain—”
“You don’t have to.” Looking down, Mairi whispered, “It’s not as if I didn’t do the same thing.” She waited for Damen to speak after that, but he did not. When she made herself look at him, Damen was gazing outside the window, his face hard, his body tense.
Mairi’s fingers dug into her palms. She had a foolish urge to take the words back, but she didn’t. It didn’t matter if she had completely crossed the line or not. She had given Drake the right to touch her, and she would forever regret that.
Damen struggled to keep his emotions in check, a near impossibility when he felt so fucking strongly. He would always feel strongly about Mairi, but more so when he was reminded that his cruelty and idiocy had pushed her into the arms of another man.
By the time the car had reached his house – the one property Esther couldn’t touch since it wasn’t tied to his corporate assets – Damen resolved to clear the air with Mairi. He had to make her understand that he would never blame her for what had happened. Maybe this was also the time he would tell her that he would never give her up to Drake Morrison either.
The chauffeur opened their door, and Damen stepped out first to assist his wife. When they turned around, it was only then they noticed the man waiting at the front door. He was dressed in a light brown suit, which coincidentally was the perfect complement to Mairi’s own beige pantsuit.
What the fuck was this, Damen thought. If Mairi and the other man stood next to each other, they’d have passed for Ken and Barbie in their matching outfits.
When he looked at Mairi, her eyes were wide with shock and, Damen noted with grim jealousy, nothing that resembled displeasure in any way.
His jaw clenched.
Whatever the reason Morrison was here didn’t matter.
He would never change his mind.
He would never give Mairi up, not even if she changed her mind and wanted to leave him for Morrison instead.
Chapter Three
She said: To wed a Greek billionaire, one must be ready to welcome unexpected guests.
He said: I completely agree. Next time that man comes knocking on our door, I will have the guard dogs ready to bite his fucking ass off for coming within five feet of my wife.
“You came to see…Damen?” Mairi was aware how dumb she sounded with her question, but she really was that dumbfounded. She wished she had the courage to look at Drake – or Damen – but she didn’t. All she could do was flip her iPhone repeatedly in her hand as if it was a ball, anything to keep her busy and not think.
Damen had invited Drake to come inside his home. His innate graciousness, albeit cold, had made Mairi flush but for the life of her, she just could not make herself speak. And here she was, stunned anew when Drake explained in that calm way of his that he was here to speak with Damen.
“If you don’t mind the intrusion,” Drake answered.
Of course she minded, Mairi thought unhappily, but she couldn’t really say that. The tension in the room was all because of how weak she was. It was not Drake’s fault she had been weak.
Damen loathed the fact that the tension had mostly to do with Mairi…and Morrison. He had an insane urge to hide Mairi from the other man’s gaze completely. He strove to remain calm, knowing if he allowed himself to think of the fact that this was the man who had been able to see Mairi naked – the one other man who had touched her body – Damen would lose it. Completely. When that happened, one of them would come out dead. It was that simple.
“You may say anything in front of my wife,” Damen said coolly.
Drake cocked his head to the side. “As you will. But before that...” He took out the USB in his pocket and handed it to Mairi.
Mairi was very careful not to touch any part of Drake as she took the USB.
The care with which Mairi took pained Drake. He said harshly, “I know I have a long way to go before I can make it up to you, Mairi—”
Damen gritted his teeth, loathing even the sound of Mairi’s name on the other man’s lips.
“But I hope you at least experience a measure of relief from what I have uncovered. I know that you have always been puzzled about the change…of Leventis’ attitude towards you in the past. I had my men investigate the matter, and I believe what I’ve found out will be confirmed by Leventis.”
Mairi found herself taking a seat on the cushion. She had a feeling if she didn’t, whatever Drake had to say might knock her off her feet. “What did you find out?”
“A woman who attended the same school you did—”
Instincts had Mairi guessing exactly who Drake was talking about. She said dully, “Farah.”
Damen made himself nod even as his gaze remained on his wife. She looked like she was about to drop any second. “She told me that you have always been after a Greek billionaire.”
Mairi’s teeth sank into her lower lip.
Damen wanted to smash something. He knew what Mairi was too nice to say. A random woman had come to him spouting stuff about her – the woman he supposedly loved – and like a man “in love”, he had believed the other woman over Mairi right away.
“She had overwhelming evidence to present,” Drake told Mairi. “I thought you would appreciate seeing all of it so that you would understand why Leventis may have acted the way he did.”
Clutching the flash drive tightly, she whispered, “Thank you.” She wished she could think of something else to say, but just thinking about that day Damen had thrown her out of their – his – house and having her arrested was more than enough to have her near to breaking down.
Go back to Manolis. He can have my leftovers.
I know that you’re a fucking psychotic bitch who’s always wanted to marry a Greek billionaire—
GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU FUCKING GOLD-DIGGING BITCH!
Mairi got to her feet. Without looking at anyone, she muttered, “I’ll leave you two to talk.” She had to get away. She had a feeling she would break down under
the weight of her memories, and she did not want anyone to see her so pathetically weak again.
Be strong, Mairi.
Be strong for Damen.
Be strong for those who love you.
****
Seeing the distress on Mairi’s face, Damen was tempted to leave their unwanted guest and go after his wife. Only the knowledge that he was likely also the reason for it kept him from moving. Reluctantly tearing his gaze away from Mairi’s departing back, Damen waited for the sound of her footsteps to fade before saying curtly, “If you could accompany me to the study?”
Drake nodded.
Closing the door to his study once Drake was inside, Damen said tightly, “You’ve picked a hell of a good time to drop that kind of bomb on us.”
Drake raised a brow. “That information is meant, unfortunately, to exonerate you—”
“I don’t give a damn what it does if it’s going to upset my wife.”
The words were a surprise to Drake, but a good one. He had profiled Leventis extensively before accepting Vilma Tanner’s assignment. The report had painted the other man as a ruthless, selfish bastard, but Mairi appeared to have drastically changed him.
But would it last? Had Leventis finally learned to properly treasure the gift he had been given – the same kind of gift Drake would have killed for if it had been up to him? Again, the vision of a dark-haired blue-eyed girl intruded in his mind, reminding him of what he had lost and what Mairi could end up being if he did not make things right.
The thought had him looking at Damen, his tone abrupt as he said, “I didn’t mean to upset her. I apologize for that.”
Damen didn’t answer right away, taking his time to observe the other man.
Like Damen, Drake remained on his feet, the two of them eyeing each other like warriors waiting for the other to make the first move. There was something different about the elusive ex-sniper, but because he didn’t understand what those changes were, Damen was reluctant to trust that it no longer made Drake Morrison a rival.
Then again, a part of Damen would always see the other man as a rival, a part of him that would never trust Mairi to spend more than a few seconds alone in Morrison’s company. If he had his way, he would be a lot happier if he could ensure that Drake Morrison didn’t exist at all. Just imagining Mairi thinking about Morrison in a platonic way already had him seething.